FORMER Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson was today censured for misleading the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee over an agreement he made with the late Robert Maxwell....

FORMER Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson was today censured for misleading the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee over an agreement he made with the late Robert Maxwell.

The committee said that Coventry MP Mr Robinson had failed to provide full answers when it originally investigated an alleged payment of #200,000 which he was said to have received from a company controlled by the publishing tycoon.

But the committee gave Mr Robinson an additional three months to provide further evidence as to whether he did actually receive the payment - a claim which he denies.

The committee upheld complaints that Mr Robinson had failed to provide "full and accurate" responses when it investigated the alleged payment in 1998, and had withheld relevant information.

It said that Mr Robinson had also misled the committee by denying that he had "agreed or solicited" the #200,000 fee for management services which he provide to AM Lock - a subsidiary of Hollis Industries.

It said the agreement was a registrable interest which should have been declared in the Register of Members' Interests.

But although the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Elizabeth Filkin, found that he did receive the payment, the committee agreed he should be given more time to challenge her finding.

Mr Robinson said in a statement that he accepted the committee's findings but was determined to prove he did not receive the payment.

He said he had been given permission to trawl through Pergamon archives in an attempt to find the disputed cheque.

The MP said: "I have co-operated completely with this inquiry, I do of course accept the committee's findings and wish to assure them that there was no intention on my part not to provide full information or registration in 1998.

"This whole issue originated from the claim that I received #200,000 as chairman of Hollis Industries. My position has been absolutely clear throughout.

"Neither I, nor any company associated with me either directly or indirectly received this money.

"TransTec, not me personally but TransTec, was owed #200,000 for management services to Lock, one of Maxwell's companies. That was a straightforward arrangement.

"The money was owed and the company was asked to pay it, but I completely deny that either I or any company associated with me either directly or indirectly, received it.

"I did not register it as an interest because it was a contract TransTec had with another company and because it was not for me but for the company.

"I did not appreciate that an expected receipt by my company was a registerable interest.

"Having said that, I accept today's decision. I am determined to prove I did not receive the payment. "Because the bank destroyed the records in the usual way it is impossible to prove to whom the #200,000 was paid from those records.

"The only way to prove who received the cheque is finding the cheque itself.

"I will mount the most comprehensive search possible for the cheque. I have agreed with Arthur Andersen, Pergamon administrators, that I may have access to the archives and search all the boxes.

"This will inevitably take some time and I will of course keep the committee informed."

The Labour Party made clear that there was no question of any action being taken against Mr Robinson until all inquiries had been completed.

"The Standards and Privileges Committee has said unanimously that Geoffrey Robinson should be allowed more time to present his case," a spokesman said in a statement.

"We believe he should be given the opportunity to do so before people jump to any final judgment."